Ukraine's Zelenskyy prepares for new security agreement ahead of Ramstein meeting

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an address on Monday night that US and Ukrainian teams are now preparing for an upcoming meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group in Ramstein, Germany.

He announced that Ukraine and its allies plan to sign a 27th security agreement in the meeting held at the Ramstein Air Base. Several key issues, including the "manning of brigades" and "weapons and equipment for our soldiers, procurement and supply" were discussed in preparation for the meeting, he added.

"It will be a special Ramstein, and Ukrainian partners will receive all the details, all the arguments on how to ensure results in the coming months both at the front and in diplomatic work", Zelenskyy said.

The announcement comes after Zelenskyy presented Ukraine's "victory plan" to the US presidential candidates in a recent visit, in pursuit of continuing financial and military support as the war approaches its three-year milestone next February.

"The power of weapons and the power of diplomacy always work effectively only together, and this is how Ukraine expects to implement the Victory Plan", the president said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the situation on the frontlines "very challenging" following a briefing with high command.

"The most important thing is to put pressure on Russia using all available means and tools to achieve our goal," Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.

"Everything that can be done this fall, everything we can achieve, we must achieve," he added.

Russia’s forces are bigger and better-equipped than Ukraine’s, and in recent months the Russian army has gradually been pushing Ukrainian troops backward in eastern areas.

Widespread destruction across eastern Ukraine

Zelenskyy's address comes as Russian attacks caused widespread destruction across parts of Eastern Ukraine on Monday.

In Kherson, one person was killed and 11 wounded as the Russian army attacked the region several times.

Drone footage captured by Ukraine's 72nd Mechanised Brigade shows destruction in the eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar.

Ukrainian forces are under severe pressure in the town, one of a belt of strongholds in the Donetsk region which, along with Luhansk, makes up the partly occupied Donbas.

Russian forces are obliterating Vuhledar with glide bombs, while infantry units advance on the flanks in a bid to encircle the town, according to Andrii Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s Centre for Combating Disinformation of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine.

At least seven residents in Ukraine's Sumy region were wounded following air strikes on the village of Peremoha.

President Zelenskyy said that is necessary to determine how to increase pressure on the Russian Federation at the meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group in Ramstein, which will be held on 12 October.